The world’s biggest whopper

Into the belly of a whale shark: Charles Thompson tries his monster’s mouth for size

(Image: courtesy of Jerry Wilkinson's collection)

Stretched over a shark-shaped frame and mounted on a railroad car, the shark amazed a generation

When Captain Charles Thompson killed a 13-metre whale shark off the Florida Keys in the summer of 1912, it was the biggest fish that had ever been caught. It was such a monster that Thompson thought everyone should have a chance to see it, so he stretched the giant’s skin over a shark-shaped frame, mounted it on a railroad car and took it on a tour of the US. The shark amazed a generation and earned its owner a fortune – and for one man it triggered a lifelong obsession. Museum curator Eugene Gudger spent the rest of his days cataloguing every sighting and every detail of the rare and mysterious species as he went in pursuit of a whale shark of his own.

CHARLES THOMPSON hunted monsters. An intrepid charter fisherman from Miami, he made a living by taking rich men on adventures aboard his schooner Samoa, sailing down the Florida coast to chase marlin, tarpon and, on a good day, sharks. He was well known for catching bigger fish than anyone else in town, in more ways than one. Rumour had it he had been hired by four US presidents, and powerful businessmen from John Jacob Astor to William Vanderbilt.

In July 1908, when a couple from nearby Little River returned from a trip across Biscayne Bay convinced they had seen a 10-metre sea serpent, it was Thompson who set out to ...

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